


Comalies

by sasha_bo



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: AU season 3, Angst with a Happy Ending, Kidnapping, M/M, Mates, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 00:43:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasha_bo/pseuds/sasha_bo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Historically, werewolf packs don’t usually encroach on other packs territory. Believe it or not, war and fights aren’t common. Too much risk involved. Exposure, hunters, stronger packs. Territorial lines were drawn up centuries ago and haven’t really changed since. For Beacon Hills, even if there wasn’t a Hale alpha, the land itself would still be considered Hale land. But disputes and invasions have occasionally happened before. Usually they are for one of three reasons. Control. Mates or Humans</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first multi-chaptered story. I kind of have an idea on how I want the story to go, but it may change depending on how things go when I write. The tags may change with more additions, but the tags on the story so far are unlikely to change. Thank you for taking the time to read

Stiles stood at his bedroom window, basking in the warm summer glow, pondering the events which had lead him to this point in his life. He likes to think that, recent events considered, he was coping quite well and not in fact having a tantrum like he at times wishes he could do. He had no regrets about the actions and decisions which he had so far taken, but after his experience with Gerard, he felt disillusioned with life as it currently stood. Scott always was and always will be a major focal point in his life, but recently he felt that these feelings did not work both ways. Currently focusing on his new project – Issac – this left little time to interact with Stiles. He wasn’t even sure if Scott knew the extent to what he had suffered under the hands of the elder Argent, or even if he had at all. And that is not even factoring in the new threat of the Alpha Pack. Issac had spilled the beans of the warning sign plastered onto the front of the decrepit Hale house, only to be quickly informed by Scott that neither he nor Stiles were interested in helping the last remaining Hales in trying to establish why their focus was now on Beacon Hills……not that Stiles had any say in this decision.

This was another aspect where Stiles and Scott seemed to drift apart. Scott still hesitated in including either Hale in his life, and as a result, their problems. He assumed that if he ignored it, he wouldn’t be a part of it. On the other hand, Stiles was fully aware that any threat to either Derek or Peter was unlikely to stop with them but in fact spread to the other wolves currently situated within Beacon Hills. To be honest, he could understand Scott’s position. Neither of them had started out in the best of situations but he hoped that finally, everybody could move on/ While Stiles could quite happily watch Peter trip and deep-fat fry his own face, the same apathy did not extend to his nephew. Stiles still harboured deep feelings for Lydia (and very much accepted he always will – first love and all), he had found in-between his head being bounced off his own steering wheel and treading water while acting like Derek’s own personal buoyancy aid, feelings had transferred over to him. There was no breakdown once this development was realised, no identity crisis or obsessive internal monologing. Quite frankly there just wasn’t any time for that. Just realisation, acceptance then despair that - yet again – he had fallen for somebody that was not available.

Don’t get him wrong, it was not wholly for the fact that Derek was in another league to Stiles. But rather that the man had issues a mile long and as such was not really in a place where a relationship was a top priority. The man had basically lost every member of his family in very violent means and only had an uncle who he couldn’t trust as far as a two year old could throw him. In the beginning Stiles had tried to stay angry at Derek – the way Scott and Allison had been at the start – but found that he always came back to the fact that Derek had simply had to grow up quicker then he should have had to and was just trying to stay afloat rather than sink. Stiles could relate and pondered if this could have been one of the reasons why his idealism of Lydia had slowly decreased where as it had risen for Derek.

At the end of the day, Stiles just wanted to do what was right. It was with this thought that he gathered up all the paper he had collected on the subject of the Alpha Pack, grabbed his jeep keys and headed to Deaton’s. The journey there gave him chance to collect his thoughts, ranging from the little niggle which emphasised how he would be seen to be turning his back on Scott, to the more angry voice which concluded that Stiles could not be expected to stand back and do nothing when there could be an immediate and harmful event on the horizon. Pulling into the parking lot, he gathered all his research – which to be honest wasn’t that much – and entered the clinic. The reception was deserted which Stiles gave quick thanks to as he proceeded to the back area only to be confronted by what was obviously a long had argument, with Derek and Peter on one side of the room and Scott and Deaton on the other.

“He is not your responsibility; he never has been and never will be so I will be the one to decide how to protect MY pack” shouted Scott.

“Stop being naive!! You have no idea how to deal with it and if you fail, they will take him and you will never see him again. You need to get past your issues that you have with us and work with us or we won’t be able to protect him” Stiles assumed that all four were heavily invested in this argument as none of them had noticed that he was there, which considering three of the four were supernatural beings was really just in poor form.

“Derek it isn’t that I don’t trust you!! I know there are issues and I am trying. But look at it from my point, this pack has nothing to do with us. The warning was to you, not us. It’s for the best he is considered my pack rather than yours! I’m trying to do the right thing for him”

Stiles felt at this point, being fairly certain that he was the pack member currently under debate, to make himself known.

“Alright minions of mine, lets calm down and tell me why I am suddenly an in demand member of pack life”.

He was not surprised to be greeted by an eyebrow raise by Derek, a smirk from Peter and a puppy-glare from Scott. Deaton, as per usual, managed the incredible task of not moving a singular muscle in his face. Stiles was jealous. His statement was met with a few minutes of silence.

“He needs to know Scott. It’s not fair to keep him weak” taunted Peter.

“I know douche-nozzle” Scott muttered back, complete with a sarcastic ‘nice comeback’ from Derek.

“Ok well ya know the Alpha pack? We – they – think they might know the reason why they have become interested in Beacon Hills” Scott stopped and looked expectantly at Stiles.

“……………….right, we need to work on your less than stellar technique of explanation. You cannot stop at a point like that and expect me to suddenly understand all the things you are not saying” Derek rolled his eyes (yet again). Stiles swore that if they could, his eyebrows would also roll themselves.

Obviously overcome by the levels of stupidity in the room, he decided to overtake the explanation “Historically, werewolf packs don’t usually encroach on other packs territory. Believe it or not, war and fights aren’t common. Too much risk involved. Exposure, hunters, stronger packs. Territorial lines were drawn up centuries ago and haven’t really changed since. For Beacon Hills, even if there wasn’t a Hale alpha, the land itself would still be considered Hale land. But disputes and invasions have occasionally happened before. Usually they are for one of three reasons. First for control of a pack. But this usually is just between the two Alphas.” Derek explained.

Stiles raised his hand like he was in class to ask a question. A huff was his reply “Wouldn’t that mean that there would be more fights? One alpha, bam, bigger pack and more power.”

“A bigger pack may mean more power but it is harder to control. Most packs air on the side of caution and try to keep their numbers on the lower scale to reduce inner conflict and not bring attention to themselves. What’s more noticeable, a group of 20 or a group of 100?? Anyway it is usually extreme cases that one alpha will try to remove another. Such as a power mad alpha….” Not so subtle glare at Peter from everybody in the room resulted in a simple shrug of the shoulders from the former dead man “or one which risks exposure. The second reason is when an alpha comes to claim a mate. It’s not like how it is portrayed on the internet…….don’t look shocked Stiles, I have seen your internet history and quite frankly, as the son of a law enforcer you should be ashamed of yourself. I am ashamed of you…..mates aren’t pre-destined or chosen by fate or scent. Wolves can chose whoever they want, but yes once they chose that is them set for life. There are instances where a wolf has chosen a mate, been rejected and gone crazy. When a wolf decides, it’s an obsession that never really goes away.”

Stiles decided to ignore the slur on his moral compass (while slightly panicking about what else Derek may have spotted…. _not the porn, oh god not the porn_ ) and cleared his throat.

“The third?”

“Wolves consistently battle in controlling their human half against their animal half. Human pack members are seen as a…stabling factor for a pack. It gives them a tangible link to their humanity, even during the full moon. As such, human pack members are considered valuable assets. Treasured enough for one pack to declare war on another which has a human member”

Stiles let the implication settle on him. This wasn’t the first time that he was in danger with a supernatural being, but it was the first time that the danger was directly focused on him.

Peter rose from where he was perched on a metal table “Scott he may be part of your pack, we all know his allegiance is to you. But outside packs won’t consider that. Even though we are technically two separate packs, we are all on Hale land and are considered one. The threat was to us, but don’t doubt that it was to all of us. There is no other reason for this, apart from to gain Stiles.”

“Why do you care?!” Really Scott was voicing the thoughts of everyone else in the room.

“I don’t have to explain my past and everything to you McCall. However I am still a Hale and this is still my heritage. I can’t quite bring myself to care about your human, but I care about the Hale legacy and what my sister and family died for. We knew about the threat before the fire, but we chose to stay to defend the land. And we paid the price so forgive me if I don’t want their deaths to have been in vain.”

Scott seemed to think things through and not for the first time Stiles hoped he made the right decision. Granted previously those decisions had been along the lines of if the boy should or should not superglue macaroni to his own face, but he had faith. He HAD to have faith “We need to work together then to keep him safe. If they are coming, they will try to go through any of us. We need to plan and we need at least one wolf on Stiles at all times.”

Stiles gave a pitiful glance down to his crotch “Don’t worry little Stiles, you and Major five fingers will be reunited when this is all done.”

“You have no inner filter at all do you?!”

“Will you and your eyebrows shut the hell up, you don’t realise the implications being accompanied by all hearing werewolves has on my personal life.”

A semi-peaceful truce settled in the room. The three wolves began to draw up an action plan only to be interrupted by an indecent yell from the other side of the room.

“When the hell were you on my computer anyway Hale?!”

“Really Stiles, that is what you are focusing on? Not the powerful Alpha Pack who is here to try and take you from everything you know and love??”

“…………..bet they would ask to go on my laptop before they used it”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see with this chapter, i have kind of fiddled (a.k.a destroyed) the canon back story and shaped it to mesh more with the storyline. So if things aren't as they are in the show, my bad. It probably wont help that I haven't seen all of 3A yet (the joys of living in the UK where the show hasn't been renewed) so am working off what is written on wikipedia. Though the back story has changed, i have tried to keep some of the major details. Thanks again for reading xx

Nobody knew suffering like Stiles did. One week. One week of being escorted by puppy eyes, walking eyebrows and bad-touch granddad had made Stiles reconsider what was defined as effective methods of torture. Scott wasn’t so bad. Really after the first two days and the 2,344 time of being asked if he was ok he had learned to tune Scott out. At least during school times he had classes away from Scott and let’s face it, him and Isaac were never going to be best friends and sharing stories about knitwear, so conversation and questions between them were slim at best. After school he had the joys of the Hale family. He knew everybody was trying to protect him, and he did appreciate it deep, deep, very very deep down. But they never had to deal with the fact that peter…..PETER HALE was stood outside of his house at night, watching him sleep. That in itself would make anybody crack under the pressure. And that didn’t include the fact when he was alone in the house; whichever wolf had been given ‘Stiles duty’ that night would camp out in his room. Stiles had started keeping count of his underwear just in case granddad had any ideas. And had decided to password his laptop, in case walking eyebrows had any ideas.

That was another issue. Stiles liked to think he had self-control, ADHD aside. But at the end of the day, he was a 17 year old boy dammit and he was not allowed to do what 17 year old boys are meant to do. That added with the walking porno that was Derek Hale, frustration was starting to boil over. Luckily for Stiles, today was the day that Isaac was the one on guard duty. And he had deemed that the alphas pack’s priority in-between murder and kidnapping would be to attack the Stilinski fridge and as such he needed to protect its contents. The best way to do this was by devouring said contents. A plan began to form in Stile’s mind, one which had to be put into place immediately to not only protect his food, but also his bank account, his sanity and his balls.

Slowly leaning back in his chair and placing his hands behind his head, he sighed loudly “Isaac, Isaac, Isaac……do you know what it’s like to not jack off in a week??” The profiterole made a soft thud as it fell out of Isaacs’ hand and onto the floor. It was a waste, but it was a sacrifice Stiles was willing to make. If times were not desperate, he would have laughed at Isaac’s shocked face – a face which had frozen mid chew. But this was not a laughing matter “Im being serious, the size of my balls…..well not melon size but maybe a smaller fruit…a peach?? Yeah a peach will do. Anyway you get my drift. They are an inhuman size; I need to have some alone time and I would prefer that you were not here for it. However it has sadly come to the point that I will take matters into my own hand, literally into my OWN hand, whether you are here or not. I am giving you 10 minutes to get as far away as you can before things erupt…gettit erupt??...phft anyway that is the deal. Stay and have your senses annihilated by eau de stiles or scram for half an hour and never speak of this to anyone.” Stiles had never seen a cardigan move so quick and doubted he ever would again, but times were desperate and it wasn’t like he was setting a glacial pace as he made his way to the bathroom. Usain Bolt would have been impressed at the speed.

If Stiles wasn’t so happy, he would have been ashamed at how quick things had escalated then finished. But he found it hard to care. And in his delirium, he decided that he just HAD to tell Scott what had happened. Partly as payback for Allison details and partly because he blamed Scott that the situation had escalated to this point. Walking into his room, chuckling at the imagery he had in his head of Scott’s face when he received what was going to be a very detailed message (God Stiles hoped he was with his mom so he could attempt to explain why he looked like somebody had pee’d on his shoes), the scent of blood quickly stopped him in his tracks. He was not embarrassed to admit that he had to steel himself for a few minutes before he dared to look up from the floor. His bed was covered in blood. The Sheets. The pillows. And the lump which had been placed on the bed. Walking up, Stiles quickly recognised the lump to be a stag. Well what was once a stag. The antlers were the only recognisable thing on the carcass, the rest mauled and mutilated beyond comprehension. It was a statement. They could get into his house, into his room in the time it took him to deal with his personal issues in the bathroom. A shudder ran through his body and part of him felt violated. This was his home and they had walked in with no problem. A drip landed on his face, bringing him out of his stupor. Reaching up, swiping and pulling his fingers away from his face, Stiles looked down to see what had hit him. Blood. Slowly looking up to the ceiling, he was confronted by the Alpha Pack symbol. The same one that had been carved into the Hale house door.

Grabbing his cell, stiles quickly left his room and made his way downstairs. It was only when he attempted to bring up Scott’s number did he realise how bad he was shaking. He was amazed by how quickly Scott actually answered the call….well he was until he was greeted with “we are on our way to yours” and was promptly hung up on. Stiles hadn’t even begun to open his mouth before he was dismissed. He placed the cell on the table, sat and waited for the rest to join (he may or may not have told his dick that this was his fault but hey, he needed somebody to blame). The slamming of the front door signed the packs arrival as Scott, Derek, Peter and Isaac all walked into the kitchen.

Derek spoke first “I’m guessing by the smell of blood they paid you a visit too”

“Wait you all got something?? I thought they were after me?” All four sat down to join Stiles at the table.

Peter spoke this time “We think they are, but this is a message for the whole pack. They are gearing up for the final fight. Normally with the Alpha Pack, they give a signal to everybody within a pack and the fight will happen within 2 or 3 days.”

Scott spluttered at the statement “Wait a minute, so you know about them and didn’t tell us?! What the hell, we are meant to be working together?!”

Derek held his hand up to signal Scott to stop talking “We are telling you now. There was no point in saying anything until we knew if they were serious about this. Sometimes the pack will leave their sign just as a warning, sort of like a reminder that they are around. The fact that they have progressed to this point meant that they are serious. And this is apparently not the first time that they have come to Hale land”

Derek looked to Peter to continue “Last time they were here, they dealt with Talia. That’s my sister, Derek’s mother and Hale alpha at that time. This was a few years before the fire so we weren’t really privy to listen in to the meetings, but from what I could gather it was about Gerard Argent. At that time, packs around the US were getting concerned about the family. Obviously you know about the Argent legacy, but they were very strict about the code. Around this time, reports were coming in about a rogue Argent. One that wasn’t playing by the rules. The leader of the Alpha pack, Deucalion, met with Talia to discuss what could be done to stop Gerard before he had time to build up a solid base which he could then use to kill all of our kind. Deucalion was – is – the alpha of one of the strongest packs, Talia was the alpha of one of the oldest packs so it made sense that it was those two that had to deal with the issue. Anyway before things could be solved, a situation broke out and a girl from Beacon Hills High was killed by a member of the alpha pack.”

Stiles noticed the tightness of Derek’s shoulders and wondered why. Did he know the girl? He might of as he would have been in high school when this happened.

Peter interrupted his thoughts "After that, Talia demanded that they leave pack land. And you did not mess with Talia, she demanded something, you did it. Anyway they left. Rumour has it that after the fire, they were targeted by Argent. He and his gang managed to decimate most of the pack. As far as we know, we think the pack is only five members strong at the moment. During the attack, Deucalion was blinded but we think he can see when he is in werewolf form. So far we have Deucalion, Kali and Ennis who also survived the attack and two new wolves. Twins. That’s what we know.”

Stiles didn’t know which he has most stunned at. The fact that Peter actually knew so much or the fact that he told the truth. He decided not to dwell on it and instead focused on the most important aspect of this tale: Staying alive and in Beacon Hills. He seemed to not be the only person who was also concerned.

“I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but how are we going to fight off a gang of 5 alphas when there are only four of us which included one alpha and one ex alpha. Oh and a human” Isaac asked. Stiles tried to be offended at how Isaac had made it seem he was a lesser species in his statement, but he was curious for the answer. He would burn his scarfs at a later date. Really they lived in California, there was no need for one person to own so much knitwear, he would be providing a service. In between imagining setting a bonfire supported by woollen clothing and Isaac's tears of sorrow over his hideous life choices, Stiles realised discussion had begun on how they were going to save him.

“We are going against the odds, but we have two things working in our favour. The element of surprise and a spark who can work mountain ash against a group of werewolves.”

Scott waved his hands in Derek’s general direction “Wait wait wait, we are trying to protect Stiles so your suggestion is to…….bring him to the fight?? Am I hearing this right? No seriously am I?”

He looked to Stiles for clarification “Dude it makes sense. We have the one thing that they don’t and we are the serious underdogs here. Even if I didn’t go and you guys failed, they would still get me somehow. Might as well try to even the playing field a bit – even if I only trap two of them, it’s still two less.” Stiles shrugged.

Peter clapped his hands together “Great so tomorrow night at the hale house. Be ready. Stiles bring all the ash Deaton can give you.” The man looked too happy about the impending cluster-fuck of a battle. But his words seemed to jolt everybody from their seats and out the door, leaving Stiles again by himself in the kitchen.

“I’ll just clean up my room all by myself then. Then again I suppose if we lose tomorrow and I become a pack bitch blood on my ceiling and the century long grounding I will get as punishment will seem like a holiday” He yelled to whichever wolf was now stationed outside the house.

Derek's head popped back into the room “Where the hell was Isaac when this was all going on anyway?!”

“I sent him away”

Derek looked at Stiles like he had just suggested that he should join the local card making society and call himself Doris compete with slippers and hair curlers “You sent away the boy…..the wolf…..who was here to keep you safe?...Wha…I…. Did your dad throw you down the stairs as a child to see how high you could get when you bounced on your head? What is wrong with you?!”

“I had needs Derek, he had to go”

“What needs? What was more important than keeping yourself alive?”

“I was knocking out the one-eyed champ, playing the one holed finger flute, choking the chicken…..do I really need to go on?”

Derek just looked at him “I thought I had hit rock bottom with Kate but apparently I really hate myself and make bad life decisions”

Derek walked out, no doubt to sit on the roof and glare at the moon.

“Yeah your life decisions really are shi……..wait what?!?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter (more of a filler really), figured I may aswell stick it up now. I think the fic has been quite light so far so i think i should give a bit of a warning that after this chapter it is doing to get a bit more serious.

The panic hit later that night. At some point Derek had snuck in and removed the stag, leaving Stiles to clean up the rest. He can’t remember the last time he had been so grateful that his dad was pulling a double shift so he hadn’t had to deal with the questioning of why he had thrown out all his bedding and had spent three hours with a mop trying to clean his ceiling. The mark had gone, but some of the stains still remained. Lying in bed, Stiles had time to think through everything, his mind a whir of different thoughts. The implications of tomorrow night had finally hit home and his chest became tight. He couldn’t breathe. His dad needed him. He needed his dad. He was his everything. Stiles tried to focus his breathing but found it just made things worse.

Memories flooded his head. His mom holding him as he cried when Mufasa died in the Lion King, His dad holding him during the funeral service, Melissa crying with laughter when Scott superglued a shower cap onto Stile’s head, the first time he saw Lydia, the first time he saw Derek. He had so much he wanted to do and he could feel it slipping away from him. His chest got tighter, breathing shallower and heartbeat faster. He didn’t want to have a panic attack but saw no way out of this one. Vision blurred with tears which quickly spilled. He didn’t hear the window opening nor the footsteps leading to his bed. But he felt the dip and warm arms wrapping around him. Derek’s hand came to rest on top of Stiles’ heart, the other clenched between Stiles’ hands.

“Shh, just listen to my heart, listen to my breathing. In and out. In……..and out. Its ok, it will be ok” Derek whispered into his ear, with a tenderness that Stiles had never heard before. It took a while for him to calm down. When he did, he didn’t let go of Derek’s hand, and Derek made no move to leave.

The paralysing fear had gone, but the panic still remained and Stiles had to let it out “I don’t want to go Derek…..I can’t…..I can’t leave him…please don’t make me go, please don’t make me go. I don’t want to die, I want my life. Oh god what am I going to do Derek...I can’t…”His grip on Derek’s hands tightened, Derek’s hold on Stiles squeezed in response.

“Nothing will happen, I won’t let it.”

“Derek I’m afraid. I don’t want to be but I’m so scared”

Derek breathed in, weighing up his next words “So am I. We all are. And there is nothing wrong with being scared. We will figure something out like we always do but I promise you, you are not going anywhere. You will still be here tomorrow, a week…a month from here. You will finish school, go to college and have the life you want. I will die before I let anything happen to you.” The words settled him; the tone of Derek’s voice calmed him. Stiles felt the energy slowly drain out of him and he sank further into Derek’s warmth. His eyelids drifted shut and he could feel the pull of sleep grab him.

“Stay?” He whispered

“Always” Derek immediately replied. As he drifted off, he heard the mutter of ‘my mate’ and the ghost of a kiss on his head before he fell into darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE POST!! i swear the Winter Olympics is great for my productivity. Again thank you very much for the comments and the kudos, I am very happy you all seem to be enjoying my story :D xxx

Derek had gone by the time Stiles woke up. Sunlight streamed through the window, the clatter downstairs signalled that his dad was back from work. Working his tired limbs, Stiles rose and descended into the kitchen. One look at his dad’s face showed that the man was tired, heavy bags under his eyes. Stiles heart clenched at the thought of never seeing the man again. No, no he wasn’t going to think that way. Derek promised him. He would be ok.

“Hey dad…er….when are you back at work?” Stiles asked, sliding a cup of coffee over to the sheriff.

“Not till tonight, how come?”

“You want to hang today? We don’t have to do anything but I just want to spend time with you.” He was levelled with a look of suspicion.

Stiles held his hands up in defence “Dude I’m not after anything and have so far not done anything illegal that I am aware of.”

“It’s sad that that is the best I can hope for” The sheriff chuckled. “I’m not up for much today but we can watch films like we used to when you were smaller. Been a while since we did that” After Stiles’ mom passed away, they had spent many a day doing just that. Always films which his mom had adored. And so that is how the day was spent, the sheriff lounging on the couch, Stiles cuddled up to his side. He knew that most would mock him for being wrapped up in his father’s arms at the age of seventeen, but as he smushed his face further into his dad’s chest, he couldn’t bring himself to care. The ambiance was ruined when afternoon lead to night and Scott walked into the living room. The sheriff – who had spent most of ‘Roman Holiday’ asleep – began to stretch underneath the blanket formally known as his son.

“Hey Scott, come to keep the delinquent company”

“………….I resent the accusation.” Stiles moved to allow his dad to get up.

Glancing at the clock, the man moved to collect his belongings “I apologise for the assumption that has been built after knowing you for seventeen years. Right that’s me away till the morning. Be good and for the love of god, don’t get caught doing whatever it is to do”

“Love you dad”

“Love you too”

Scott gave Stiles a sad look as the car pulled out of the driveway.

“I would ask if you are ok, but I don’t think it will help any. Are you ready?”

Stiles shrugged “Guess so. No point prolonging it. What is the plan?”

They both sat down on the couch to discuss tactics “Derek, Peter and Isaac are going to meet us at the clearing behind the house. I swiped all the ash from Deaton’s. There is rucksack full of the stuff outside the clinic so we will need to swing and pick it up. When we get to the clearing, we are going to have you in the centre with a circle of mountain ash around you with the rest of us positioned in different areas. Peter said to leave the summoning to him, not that I want to but it’s not like we have a choice. When the fighting starts, we need you to stay in the circle. Like dude only come out if you can definitely get close enough to one to surround them in the ash. Please Stiles don’t be a hero. If things go tits up, stay in the circle and call Allison. They are still away but she had people on stand-by to help if things go pear shaped to the point we can’t control them.”

Stiles stood up and paced the room “What so you want to get hunters involved?!? Jesus Scott what is going to stop them from killing everybody!?”

Scott waved his hands “These are code-hunters, like they are almost as bad as Chris with the code. Allison spoke to them when this all first kicked off. They only agreed to help because there was a danger to a human and partly due to guilt over the fire. You wouldn’t actually believe that some hunters sympathised with the Hales, I know, I was shocked aswell. But anyway moving back to the point, they said they won’t get involved in the initial fight as it is pack business, but they will if things get out of control. They said the last thing needed was for the son of the local sheriff to disappear.”

Stiles breathed out a sigh of relief “So we have a plan B. That’s good. Any luck in getting more wolves to help the fight?”

Scott hesitated “They said the same as the hunters. They won’t get involved in a pack dispute. Again too much risk and we have been trying to figure out where Erica and Boyd are but still no luck. Lucks like it’s just us.” They headed towards the jeep. Stiles tried to not liken it to walking to his doom, but the heavy lump in his stomach grew the closer they got to the clinic then closer to the hale house. One look at Scott’s growingly pale face showed he was not the only one feeling bad. Pulling up to the house, the look at everyone else’s faces showed the same emotion. Well apart from Peter’s. Peter had no emotion other than evil and smug. The five of them stood in a circle, just letting the emotion of the moment settle.

“I knew it would be me who was the reason you all decided to work together. You are welcome. I feel like we are…like…the power rangers or something. No the teenage mutant ninja turtles. Peter you’re the rat. It is only fitti…” Scott’s hand over his mouth finally stopped the nervous babble for which Stiles gave his eternal thanks. He didn’t want everybody’s last memory of him being him comparing Teenage mutant ninja turtles to Biker mice from mars (Fuck you Scott, BMFM is the best). Once he was sure the nervous babble had stopped; Scott removed his hand and gave a nervous smile.

“You’re ok, we are ok” Scott muttered into his ear, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze. Stiles glanced to Derek, whose eyes were locked on to him.

Stiles cleared his throat and looked away “So let’s get this over with. Sooner we are done, sooner we can go home and wait till the next mess hits.” Without saying anything else, Stiles grabbed his bag and walked into the clearing. There were to be no speeches, no pep talks and no goodbyes. They weren’t needed. Derek had promised.

Stiles quickly threw the ash until it had created a circle around him, turned to face the entrance of the clearing and waited. A howl sounded to his far left, the signal from Peter to the Alpha Pack. Minutes passed without a sound. Stiles could feel the agitation coming from the rest of the pack, the air rich with tension. Stiles knew he needed to keep focus but found the pack emotions were starting to mix with his own ADHD. His focus shifted from the entrance to the clearing as a whole, his gaze shifting from tree to tree. A quick glance to a tree at his right made him double back. Around one of the trees was wrapped a silver chain. Closer look showed a shackle attached to the end of it. At first he surmised that it had been placed there pre-fire, but the sheen of the chain made him reconsider.

“Erm guys…..is there any chance one of you put that there?” Stiles pointed over to the offending item. A swift swear pretty much summed up that the addition to the foliage was not of their doing.

“Shit, I think this might be a trap” Isaac muttered seconds before the Alpha pack made themselves known. Looking around, only Deucalion stood at the entrance, moonlight reflecting off his glasses. Stiles knew they were surrounded by the rest of the pack from the echoes of growls surrounding them and the red spots appearing periodically in the darkness.

Deucalion started a slow walk into the clearing “I must say, we did have a slightly warmer welcome last time we were here. Manners must not have been a family trait. Such a shame, Talia and Matt were such gracious hosts. I’m sure you both remember.” He ended with a smirk “It is more of a shame things have had to come to this point. I would advise you all step down and let us leave with what we came here for”

Scott snarled “You can’t have him, he is ours!”

Deucalion’s top lip rose in an imitation of a snarl “Wrong pup, he is MINE!” Movement from the periphery of Stiles’ vision indicated the rest of the pack moving into the clearing. Peter had been right, a man, a woman and twins made themselves known, surrounding the weaker pack “Peter, you know it doesn’t have to come to this. Just give me what is mine and this will all be done. You won’t even miss him.”

“Oh you know me Duke, I was never one to back down from a fight” God bless Peter’s penchant for being a dick. It was aggravating when it was directed at you but amazing when it was to somebody you didn’t like. Stiles almost wish Jackson had stuck around a bit longer just so he could have pushed them both in a room and watch the sparks (or body parts) fly.

A low growl sounded “Fine. Have it your way. Such a shame, this could have been a promising pack.”

A quick nod of the head was all it took before chaos hit the clearing. Movement was so quick that Stiles had a hard time focusing on any one member. From what he could see, Derek and Peter had focused on Ennis and Kali while Scott and Isaac worked on the twins. It seemed like the pack was holding its own, but not enough for Stiles to come into play. He glanced over the carnage to see Deucalion standing on the other side with a smile on his face. He considered trying to get close enough to hit him with the ash, but realised he had a higher chance of getting stabbed by one of the wolves before he could get close enough. A blur to his right showed Kali hitting the trunk of a large tree, crumpling to the ground. Glancing up, he saw Peter making a bee-line towards Deucalion, leaving Derek and Ennis to battle it out by themselves. Stiles saw this as his chance and started to walk towards Kali, mountain ash in hand. A loud bang brought both him and Peter to a complete stand still.

“What the hell was that!?” Stiles yelled, the fighting continued in the background. Glancing around the clearing, his eyes connected with Derek’s. The green eyes rounded in surprise and shock. Derek started to walk towards Stiles, but stumbled after two steps. He stopped and shook his head, trying clear his thoughts. Stiles could only watch as the wolf stumbled and fell, slowly pulling the dart out of his side. He lay on the floor, attempting to crawl but Stiles could tell that he was starting to lose the fight against the drugs the dart had put in his system. Stiles tried to call his name, what was meant to be a shout ended up as a whisper. He saw Derek mouth ‘Stiles’ before his eyes rolled into his head and he stopped moving.

Stiles shook himself out of his stupor and tried to move towards the fallen wolf. He managed to take two steps before something wrapped around his ankle. Looking down, he took stock of the clawed fingers before his leg was taken from underneath him and he was dragged backwards by the now mobile female were. Stiles tried to gain any leverage he could by gripping onto anything – grass, roots...anything. But his efforts were fruitless and he shuddered when the cold shackle was clamped around his ankle. But he still tried. He pulled and clawed at the shackle until he could feel blood dripping down his foot. Screaming in frustration, he pulled himself towards the chain, trying to find weakness in anything. A whisp of breath hit the back of his neck, making the hairs stand up. Long hair fell over his shoulder.

“Don’t take it personally Little Human, cant having you ruining our plans now” Kali cackled before she made her way back to the battle. Looking over, he saw the crumpled figure of Derek had been moved to the other side of the clearing – away from the fight. Isaac was at the other side of the clearing to Derek, also not moving, arms looking decidedly broken. Scott was still trying to take on the twins while Peter took on the other two. Suddenly Peter was thrown into the tree next to Isaac, the impact causing the thick birch to crack down the middle and a loud snap to vibrate through the clearing.

“What the fuckitty fuck man?!” Stiles gaze moved to Scott and…….and a majorly big badass Alpha. Gone were the twins, replaced by the mountain of muscles with a mouth. The hesitation shown by Scott was capitalised by the Alpha, who proceeded to throw Scott into the same tree that peter had cracked with his head seconds before. A figure in black appeared out of the woods and poured black sand along the floor, only stopping when a circle lit up around the three wolves, trapping them inside their own ash prison.

“Miss Morell??! What are you doing?!” Stiles yelled, spotting the tranquiliser gun strapped over her left shoulder. She glanced at Stiles, shrugged and moved towards Deucalion who had now placed himself in the centre of the clearing – joined by the rest of his pack. Derek was as still as a stone but Stiles was happy to note that the other three had managed to get back onto their feet and were now pacing their prison.

“Well this works out perfectly, I’m guessing you liked our little surprise” Stiles watched as the mountain man halved to become the twins again…..what!? “I did expect more of a fight, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So we will be taking our prize and be on your way. Anything to add Peter? You were always one to finish with a comment.”

Stiles was surprised to see the slightly panicked look on the former alphas face, maybe the man actually had feelings……or wind, possibly wind.

“Think Duke, you do this and you are going to cause a lot of issues to a lot of our kind. It isn’t worth it, he isn’t worth it. You are going to ruin everything Talia and Matt worked for and I know that even after everything that’s happened, you have too much respect for them, for the name they built to do this.”

Deucalion tilted his head towards Stiles “Anything to add human? From what I have heard you are another one who seems to lack the capability of keeping his mouth shut, so now is your chance”

Stiles stood, ignoring the pain emanating from his ankle and squared his shoulders to look at the pack face on n“You can take me, do whatever you want. But I swear down I will escape and I will destroy you. You are not my pack or my alpha and you never will be.” Flashes of his dads face appeared, but he couldn’t think about him now, couldn’t think about everything he had lost in the space of 15 minutes.

He had imagined a few different responses to his speech. Anger, disbelief, maybe even a slap. The laughter however……well that was unexpected. Truth be told, he felt a bit hurt at the mocking.

Deucalion reduced the laughter and walked towards Stiles, stopping a few feet away. Out the corner of his eye, he could see the other three wolves eyeing him wearily – waiting for Deucalion’s move before he took Stiles along with him and his pack.

“I have no doubt that you are a remarkable man, Mr Stilinski. Brave too. But I think your pack may have over emphasised your role in this just a tad.” Deucalion used his foot to pull at the chain, causing Stiles to topple to the floor as his foot was once again taken from underneath him. Stiles put his hands in front of him to brace the impact, but he still ended up with a face covered in dirt and winded from the hard impact to the floor.

“I have always found that the humanity in us weakens us. I have no interest in being weak. So do you see the connection Mr Stilinski?”

Stiles glanced at the other three wolves, confusion also marring their faces “Then why all this?”

Stiles watched as Peters eyes widened with realisation and his gaze moved from Stiles to Deucalion then finally landed on his unconscious nephew. Stiles realised then that the ploy had never been for him. Never to gain a human pack member. The warning, the fight had been for Derek “So what Duke, you want the Hale land? Is that it? Go after the last descendant of Talia and gain Beacon Hills? You don’t need it and you know there would be war from the other packs if you tried to take this land from him. It belongs to the Hale’s!!”

Stiles could have sworn Deucalion’s eyes rolled behind his glasses; however he was happy that the alpha’s attention shifted from him to Peter “I will say this slowly for you, hopefully then you will understand. I do not want your land, I do not want your human…..so what does that leave you with?”

“Mate” Isaac whispered.

Deucalion tilted his head towards the boy "Well done. It is nice to see that our education system has not failed the youths of today. Now that this is done and we got what we wanted, we will be on our way. Word of warning, I would really reconsider trying to find us, next time we won’t be so lenient.”

Stiles could only watch as Ennis picked up Derek and walked away with him, signalling the retreat of the rest of the pack. This couldn’t…….he can’t let this happen. Stiles began to pull harder on the chain, trying to follow, clawing with his hands on the floor to try and get a bit of leverage.

“SCOTT. SCOTT MAN DO SOMETHING!! CHRIST DO ANYTHING! THEY CAN’T HAVE HIM!! NO BRING HIM BACK! GIVE HIM FUCKING BACK TO ME!!” The pain didn’t matter anymore. Nothing but getting Derek back mattered. People often told him feelings and realisations often hit in one fell swoop. This was his swoop. He was Derek’s mate and Derek was his…….everything. Stiles turned to the other three. Isaac and Scott were both trying to break through the barrier. Peter…………..Peter just stood there, looking to where the alpha pack had retreated.

“Please Scott”

Scott paused, turning to look at Stiles, seeming to take in the state of his friend. Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the barrier and began to slowly push against it. It felt like hours but only took a minute. He kept pushing until the barrier seemed to explode, the circle broken.

Stiles looked up at Scott “How?”

Scott’s reply was to simply flash his eyes. The yellow now a deep red. Scott ran towards Stiles and gripped the shackle.

“Scott man, we have to go after them. We can’t leave him…please” the shackle gave with ease; Scott helping the boy to stand and gripped his face in between his hands.

“Stiles listen, listen to me. We need a plan. We can’t go into this half-baked, not anymore. We go after them now, they will kill us and that won’t help Derek. Are you with me?” Stiles nodded his head.

Scott turned towards the rest of the pack “Isaac take Peter to the loft, we need to get Stiles checked out and then we need to come up with something. Go!”

The command sparked life back into Peter, who wordlessly followed Isaac away. Honestly Peter just looked as lost as Stiles felt.


	5. Chapter 5

All Stiles needed was a few stitches. He had managed to completely tear the skin around his ankle but he was grateful that he didn’t need crutches or anything. He couldn’t save Derek with crutches. They currently were sat in an empty room in the hospital trying to explain things to Melissa. Well Scott was, Stiles just stared at the wall. Currently the two were in debate about how they were going to get Derek back. The suggestion of getting the police involved was quickly shot down, as was the one about including hunters. Scott’s phone broke the tension in the room and he quickly left to take the call. Melissa just wrapped her arms around Stiles and for a few moments, he felt like it was his mom again. No words were exchanged, none were needed.

Scott re-entered the room, a troubled look on his face “We need to go to the loft. Isaac says that Peter has gone from walking-dead to postal in two seconds flat. We need to calm him down, find out what he knows and figure out a plan.”

Stiles looked up for the first time since Melissa had led them to the room “What plan? We don’t need one. We go, we fight and we bring him back.”

“It’s not that simple. Come on, let’s go.” The ride to the loft was silent. Well until they had parked up. The air was littered with roars and bangs. The boys looked at each other before climbing up the stairs and into the loft. Stiles was impressed at the damage the man had managed to cause considering the fact that the apartment had fuck all in it to begin with. If his mood was better, he would have taken pictures and used them for a book entitled “How to throw a tantrum 101”. As it was, he was not in a better mood and was considering joining in. Isaac, bless his heart, was trying to calm the wolf down while maintaining a safe distance. It didn’t help.

Scott looked towards Stiles, panic etched on his face “Alpha roar at him. Derek did it before when Isaac had lost it. It’s worth a shot.”

Scott geared himself up, and if Stiles hear him muttering ‘You’re the alpha, be the alpha’ to himself then hey – who was he to judge. The roar echoed around the loft, vibrating through the windows and the floor. But it worked. Peter stopped and lowered the table he was readying himself to throw.

Scott flashed his eyes for added effect “Stop. This isn’t helping and Derek is going to be pissed when he gets back, because he is coming back. Peter, for once we need you to be truthful and honest, we need to know everything that went on. Any little detail that could help us. There is no way that Deucalion just decided a few months ago the Derek was his mate. Something else has gone on to get it to this point and you are our best shot at figuring this out.”

Peter looked at Scott before something seemed to change and he exhaled “Your right, this couldn’t have just happened overnight. I guess they are right when they say hindsight is a bitch. Right well you all already know about the visit. As far as I know, that is the only time the two of them have ever really had any contact but even then I don’t think they spoke past the introductions. Derek would have been 15 around that time. He had met a girl, Paige, so spent most of his time around her rather than around the pack. Something happened on the full moon and Ennis bit Paige. As far as I can guess, the bite didn’t take so Derek killed her to make it quick.”

Peter started to pace in front of the windows, glancing up at the moonlight “We all thought it was an accident. It was apparently Ennis’ first full moon as an alpha and the attack was written off as an animal attack. Looking back, knowing what we know, I’m not too sure it was an accident. Pretty certain that it wasn’t. Paige was his first love. Deucalion – if that was when he first decided that Derek was going to be his mate probably wanted her out the way. After that Derek’s mom and dad – Talia and Matt – kept a tight rein on him. Again we all thought it was out of concern for how he would react after Paige’s death. But now I think it was to keep him safe…”

“In case Deucalion lost patience and came to claim him. Yeah I can totally see a 15 year old teenager reacting well to being under lock and key” Isaac finished for him.

Peter snorted “Yeah. I mean for the first year he wasn’t so bad. Grief will do that to people. When he turned 16, he did the typical teenage thing and acted out. We all tried to persuade his parents to lighten up, but they flat out refused. So he snuck out, stayed out with his new girlfriend. Older woman. Paige was his first love, she was his first lust. There were secret messages and meetings. They had been seeing each other for about a year when she blocked the exits, poured mountain ash around the house and burnt our family to the ground.”

Fuck.

Nobody spoke for at least 10 minutes. Nobody knew what to say. What could you say, sorry?

Stiles broke the silence, trying to steer the conversation back to its intended purpose “But I don’t understand why, if Deucalion was so set that Derek was his mate – why he just didn’t attempt to take Derek right after he killed Paige? He could of if he wanted to”

The question caused Peter to chuckle….seriously what has it with people laughing at him today?! “I forget you don’t know our history. We told you yesterday that Talia was not an alpha to mess with and it’s the truth. The older the alpha, the stronger the power. You all know that alpha power is linked to pack. A person may die, but they are still considered part of the pack so a bit of their power will still transfer over to a new alpha, whether they are still here or not. Over time that power will accumulate as the pack grows. We knew straight from birth that Talia was the one who would take the alpha role after our father so she was…groomed for it from the beginning. One of the main priorities for an alpha is keeping our secret hidden. The supernatural community as a whole has no desire to be exposed so there are methods put in place to keep the secret contained. For a pack, our control is in the form of the coven. It’s a group of what you would maybe call witches? You have those who practice magic – those with a basic power are known as witches, those with advanced power are maja’s. The coven for the packs are full of maja’s and they come around when a new alpha is set to take power and will assess the alphas skills to see if they are fit for the role. Anyway when it was Talia’s time, the coven came to assess her and she fell for one of the maja’s – Matt. Crazy powerful guy. He left the coven and joined the pack as an alpha mate but still retained the power he had under the coven. So essentially the Hale pack had something which nobody else ever had, a powerful alpha backed by a magical mate. Nobody, not even Deucalion would dare take them on.”

“So then how come Derek isn’t half wolf, half maja?” asked Scott.

Stiles answered on Peters behalf “Because if his parents were even half as powerful as we can guess they were, that would be too much power to place in just one person. Even if it had been split between the siblings it still would have been too much.”

Peter smirked “Exactly. The decision was made that the maja half would be removed and stay with Matt while the werewolf part remained. I have no idea how they managed to do it. Nobody does and it’s not something I have ever heard of happening to anybody else. Now that the two of them are gone, Deucalion no longer has to worry about the consequences of his actions.”

Scott stepped forward “Right, we need a plan on how to do this. First off, we need to know where they are. Deaton is working on some things but he can’t go to Morell to ask. She is their emissary so is loyal to them. Stiles I want you to research, find anything you can about how to fight off an Alpha Pack, any records of it being done before, something that will help us. It’s up to you if you want to get Lydia to help, but I want her away from the action so she doesn’t get hurt. The three of us are going to go and see if we can scent them or Derek. If we can get a location on him, we can build a plan from there”

The three wolves made to move towards the door before Stiles stopped them “Guys I want to talk to Peter before he goes. Alone.” Scott looked at him like he had asked if he could sex up his mother, but nodded his head in agreement before he grabbed Isaac and led him outside.

Stiles waited a few minutes “They gone?”

Peter nodded his head in confirmation “I don’t get you man, I really don’t and I’m not going to risk his life because I blindly put my trust in you. Why are you doing this, why do you care?” Stiles watched the play of emotions as they crossed Peters face.

He whispered to Stiles “You know, you are the first person to ask me that………..You know I wasn’t always like this. If you asked me years ago that this would be the man I would become, a man with the blood of his niece on his hands, I would have laughed. I loved my family. The last thing I would ever have imagined doing would be to murder one of them in cold blood.” He breathed heavily for a minute before continuing “I met my mate just after the Paige situation. She was from another pack but wasn’t happy there so requested to join the Hale pack and live in Beacon Hills. Holly. She was….she was beautiful. I still remember the first time I saw her, she took my breath away. Literally, she ran into me as she was out jogging in the woods and knocked me over. Took a few weeks for the bond to happen then she came to live in the house. Not long after she became pregnant and gave birth to our son. He was the most beautiful baby in the world. I know I’m biased but he really was.”

Stiles was stunned to see Peter smiling. Not his usual one, the one where he looked like he was concocting a plan of pure evil. But a one of happiness “Jake was just 6 months old when Kate set fire to the house. We were downstairs when it happened. It wasn’t like a normal fire where it started slowly and built up. It felt like seconds before the whole house was on fire. Some of the foundation fell and Holly and the rest of the family were trapped on one side, I was on the other. I can still hear her screams you know? Begging me to find Jake and get him out. I ran to his room. The fire was so hot, I could feel it burning my skin but I had to get to him. I reached the room, picked him up and managed to work my way out the house. Something had fallen and luckily broken the ash circle. I got outside and I remember the grief that I had lost my family but my happiness that I had managed to save one. My little baby boy. But he had died before I even reached him. Smoke inhalation they said. I sat there, listening to the screams of my family as they burned, holding him. I tried to go back for everyone else but it was too late”

Stiles did something he never imagined he would ever do. He went and hugged Peter. Didn’t say anything but just held him while he cried.

“Did you know that every year on the day of the fire Kate Argent would come to see me in the hospital?” Stiles froze. “Every year, I had to hear about how she manipulated my nephew. The boy who my son adored. Every time Derek walked into the room, Jake would make those grabby hands until Derek came over and picked him up. He would pretend that Jake was an aeroplane and whiz him around the house. Boy was more like my brother then anything. And I had to sit there and listen to how she stole his virginity, his innocence. How she planned everything out with her father, how she set up then set the fire and watched as an innocent family burned.”

Peter pulled away from Stiles and turned away “I sat there for years, replaying every moment in my head every day, waiting for the day she decided to come and torture me once more. When Deucalion said that the human side makes us weaker he was right. When I finally woke up, it was like the wolf had completely taken over, I didn’t have control anymore. The animal side of us works to the primal emotions. Fear, Anger, Lust. For me it was revenge. The wolf wanted revenge and I was just along for the ride. If I could have stopped it, I would have done so to save Laura. Nobody else, just her. I was lost when I realised what I did, if I could of, I would have killed myself. But I had to make them pay. I have to live with what I did for the rest of my life and I have to live with the fact that the one family member I have left doesn’t trust me anymore. I deserve it. The anger and pain will never go away, but the old Peter is starting to come back. I can’t lose my last link to my past because I honestly don’t know what I would be capable of if I did. Derek is my anchor, and I need to save him.” Stiles nodded, beginning to understand the enigma that was Peter Hale and genuinely believed every word he said.

Stiles looked down at his hands, afraid to ask his next question but knowing he needed to “Peter what are they going to do to him?”

He paused in his pacing “When a mating happens involving a were, there is a bond. It needs to be accepted by both parties before it sticks. It’s sort of connects the mind and souls of both. Sex and that doesn’t need to happen, the bond is its own entity. Normally the stronger of the two, usually an alpha, will push the bond onto the other and they decide to accept or not. There haven’t been many cases of a forced bonding but it has happened. It normally involves breaking down the other person until they can’t reject it anymore. Think of it like psychological warfare. You have this…thing trying to enter your mind day in, day out. If it involves a person with enough strength, it can be taxing trying to keep the bond at bay. Think of it like a wall, if you smash into it long enough eventually the wall will fall. Of course there are other ways in which they can speed up the process.”

“How?”

Peter looked away, refusing to answer.

“Peter, tell me how!”

“If you weaken the body, the mind will follow. Is that what you wanted to hear? You abuse and use somebody long enough, the body will fail and so will the mind. I have seen forced mate bonds before Stiles, the result is not pretty. I can only recall one who was able to retain some semblance of sanity. Of course in those situations, when the bond breaks so does the sanity.”

“How do you break a bond?”

“Death. It’s the only way. Once the bond is set it is very literally till death do you part.”

“What if the wolf in question already has a mate?”

Peters head rose suddenly, his gaze levelling Stiles. He had seen many looks on Peters face which had been directed at him. Most of them had admittedly threated his toilet control skills which he had perfected when he was younger. But none were like this.

Like he was looking at Stiles for the first time “I take it you are his mate then. It might help him hold out for a bit longer but honestly, the bond isn’t there between you two so I don’t think it will stop Deucalion.”

“Then go and find my mate then and bring him back to me”

Peter smirked before heading out the door “I think you will make the perfect alpha mate. Much the same as Matt. He was fucking scary as well when he wanted to be. Still have the scars from when he gave me warts after I convinced Derek that if he spray painted a dog green it would turn into a leprechaun when he was younger. That boy made it through a lot of dogs before the night was done. PETA got involved; it was just a mess all around, best not to be repeated. Mrs Sampson still gives him the stink-eye to this very day over it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Two months. It had been two fucking months and they were still at the same point they were the first night. The pack tried to track them and nothing had turned up. They were pretty sure that they had managed to leave the state soon after the fight. Packs close to the Hale’s had all been contacted, along with sympathetic hunters but they had still drawn a blank. An ‘anonymous’ phone call had been placed to the Sheriff (Thanks Danny for not only doing it, but also turning a blind eye to it.). Still nothing. Even on the research front, Stiles and Lydia were drawing up a blank. Granted they had gained an alpha in Scott, but even then he was still learning and the person who was best to teach him was……no Stiles couldn’t think about that.

He knew deep down what they were doing to Derek and he couldn’t even put into words how much it made his heart hurt. But he had to keep going, he couldn’t – wouldn’t give up. He was a man on a mission, one he would win. In the times of quiet and darkness, his thoughts turned to what would happen when Derek came back. What they would say, how they would be. Stiles knew that Derek was his forever but it still didn’t change anything. Derek had too many issues and Stiles was just plain too young. He didn’t want to let the man go, but equally he didn’t want to lose his youth.

Stiles had never not considered going away to college. Before everything happened it was, at times, what got him through the day. He lived for being able to strike out on his own, finally grow from the spastic man-child into a semi-responsible adult (only semi, he was still friends with Scott after all). He loved his home and knew he would eventually settle down here, but he didn’t want to be here his whole life. He wanted to see and do things which he couldn’t do in Beacon Hills. And Stiles had to consider the possibility that, when Derek got back, he may have to sacrifice these things. But he had a hard time letting it go. He had researched mates in the little spare time he had and from what he had read, it was uncommon for mates to spend extended periods of time away from each other. That coupled with everything that had happened within Derek’s life…..he had to consider that the wolf may not be able to cope with his mate being so far away. But that was neither here nor there as at the moment, Stiles was meant to be completing a chemistry test.

Shaking himself out, he put his head down and tried to focus on the questions in front of him. He could do this. Pretend that everything was ok, he had years of practice. A gasp sounded next to him. He turned to face Isaac. Isaac who had gone pale and was clutching his chest.

“Mr Lahey, I realise that the test may not be to your liking but pretending to have a heart attack may be a bit over dramatic. Get on with it” trolled Harris from his desk before going back to his book.

Stiles raised an eyebrow at Isaac, who just shook his head in response and continued with his test. Stiles turned to Scott who had an equally confused expression on his face. He mouthed the word ‘later’ before continuing with his test. They still had three more classes before school was out, with no chance to corner Isaac on what had happened. On a normal day, the end of the day bell was like angels calling to Stiles’ ears. Today it was every good thing in his life had grouped together and started to sing.

Before the bell had even finished, he was already out his chair and out the door, only to be stopped by a strong arm wrapping around his arm. He turned to face Scott “Peter called and said we need to get to the loft like now. Isaac will meet us there.”

Stiles guessed he must have zoned out because he could have sworn they hadn’t even left the school yet but here they were, in front of the loft door. God he hoped he wasn’t driving. Opening the door, they were met with the sight of Peter, Isaac and…….Boyd and Erica??

Stiles stormed in, anger beginning to rise “I’m not even going to ask what happened because I don’t give two flying fucks. Why the fuck are you back!? You didn’t care to be here when everything kicked off so why bother now!?” To her credit, Erica did look upset. Boyd did what Boyd did, remained expressionless. Stiles reminded himself to check his family tree, him and Deaton were too similar in the lack of facial expression to not be related somehow.

Erica stepped forward “I’m sorry. We are both so sorry. I don’t expect you all to understand, but it was just too much. Stiles for the first time I could actually do anything I wanted without worrying that what I will do will kill me! We just needed some time away. If we knew we would have come back, you know that” She pleaded. Stiles wasn’t convinced, but knew they needed all the help they could get. Their issues could be dealt with later.

“Why have you come back then? What the hell happened in class today?” Scott asked.

“I don’t know man. My chest just felt so tight then it was like something shifted. It didn’t hurt but it was….it just felt weird and wrong. Did you guys have it as well?” Erica and Boyd nodded in response.

Really, looking back Stiles first thought shouldn’t have been “ it’s a ghost” when the table went flying across the apartment. His next thought shouldn’t have been wonderment about where the table came from because really, that table had stood a lot of abuse.

Scott looked at Peter with confusion “The fuck dude? You upset that Isaac may have just failed the test?” Stiles gave Scott a quick backhand upside the head. He really did deserve it.

“The feeling they had…it was the shift of power. The mate bond has stuck.”

Stiles felt like he had just been gutted. Breathing hurt and his vision blurred “Shit….so what does that mean? Is Deucalion now their alpha?”

Peter paused “Technically no, Derek is still the alpha. But part of the bond between Derek and the rest has now shifted to Deucalion, as it does with a mate bond. It’s traditionally done to ensure that a packs loyalty and dedication to their alpha will extend to the mate. Fuck fuck fuck.” Stiles felt a growing feeling in his chest. He couldn’t point what it was, but it felt like sparks were starting to run through his body. Something told him to just give in.

Trust the feeling, trust his instincts.

“Ok…ok let’s think. If Deucalion has taken on some of the alpha role from Derek, taken some of the power, then he must have taken on some of the weakness. Right?” Stiles looked to Peter, who just raised an eyebrow (seriously, Hale genes are strong!) and nodded “Right so that gives us a weakness in the Alpha pack. I read that losing a pack member is liked to losing a limb. If we can break the link between our pack and Deucalion then that is going to weaken him. They may be an alpha pack but they are still operating under pack structure. Duke is still the leader. We weaken him and use that to neutralise him then the rest are weaker as they are without a leader. Am I making sense?”

Everybody nodded until Boyd noticed a problem “It’s a good plan, but if we cut off the link to Deucalion, we also cut it off to Derek. Peter filled us in on the details. If he has broken down Derek enough to get him to accept the bond, cutting off the rest of the pack might push him over the edge and we may never get him back.” Shit, he hadn’t thought about that.

Peter spoke up “It’s a chance we are going to have to take. We are not leaving him there with them. He belongs here, with us. If he is pushed too far but we get him back, we can work from there.”

“But then that leaves us without an alpha. If we are going to win, we need to be a pack. A proper one” Ah peter obviously didn’t fully full them in.

Stiles walked up to Scott and patted his shoulder “Not a problem cat woman. We have an alpha. We just shift the pack bond from Derek to Scott. From what I know, a simple bite will do it. You guys just need to accept it.”

Stiles started to walk towards the door “Don’t do anything just now. I need to go to Deaton’s. Don’t know why, I just need to go.” Stiles didn’t give the pack a chance to argue before he left. He honestly didn’t know what he was going for or why; he just knew he needed to. He stormed into the clinic, not even taking note if it was empty or not, and made his way into the back.

“You know something, I know it. His shit is going to stop dammit and you are going to help me. Whatever it takes. I don’t care.” He expected different reactions from Deaton. Well actually he expected no reaction at all.

The smile though, that was different “Ahhh there it is. The spark. I’m glad you figured it out Mr Stilinski. You must forgive me for not saying anything, but time has proved that in cases like these, the spark needs to manifest itself for it to come to fruition and not be pushed. Your spark is connected to you and your emotions. It just needed a bit of a push.”

Stiles just stared at Deaton “You……you knew? And you didn’t tell us ANYTHING?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE IF YOU WON’T HELP US!?” Stiles slammed his hands on top of the metal table separating the two. The spark intensified.

“Because you needed to do it yourself. If I told you, you would have tried to force it and you could lose it. Your spark is important Stiles, but things like this often need time. It may not seem like it now, but this is better in the long run. Now you actually have a valid method to use to save Derek.” Deaton walked over to a pile of books and produced a map. On closer inspection, it was a detailed map of Beacon Hills and the Hale pack land “Your spark…it’s like a conduit for power. You don’t have any power yourself, but you can harness other people’s power. Use it. For an alpha, you can be a catalyst; you can channel his power and strengthen it.”

“So if I have don’t have any power of my own, and I can’t access Derek’s power how am I meant to help. I can’t tap into Scott’s power; he needs it for the rest of the pack…”

“I’m not taking about Mr McCall’s power, you don’t need it. I’m sure by now that Peter has told you about the girl that was killed when the Alpha Pack was last here? Mr Hale preformed what most would consider a mercy killing; however the interesting aspect is not what he did. But rather where it happened. Traditionally, a nemeton was used for rituals for various supernatural practices. It is considered a sacred place, a place of power. Nemeton’s have been dated back to around 60 AD, consider them our version of Stonehenge.  Anyway, when Derek killed Paige, it reactivated the nemeton in Beacon Hills. It was considered a virgin sacrifice even though that wasn’t the intention. It repowered the nemeton, a power which is still there to this day. It is neither good nor evil, it is just there. But I would hope that, because you want to tap into it to save the man which provided the sacrifice, that it may allow you to harness its power for your purpose.”

Stiles took in this new information, a spark of hope rising from within him “But? I feel like there is a but in there somewhere.”

“We are going into blind territory here. I don’t know how or even if you can access the power or if it will let you. The nemeton itself is a neutral power, but the rituals which it has historically gained power from haven’t been. You could be accessing dark power, power which could overrun your spark or dark spirits which have been settled within the nemeton, waiting for the moment to escape.”

Stiles didn’t need to think or consider his options. This felt right.

“Where is it?”


	7. Chapter 7

Stiles had left the pack at the forest clearing. He knew that he needed to do this himself, he had to do this. He briefly explained everything to Scott, leaving out some of the details – i.e. chance of evilness. He knew that Scott would try to stop him and he couldn’t allow that to happen. He had been over this all night, he had memorised the map to the point where he could find the nemeton with his eyes closed. He knew he was getting closer by the reduction of forest noise. The spark again seemed to grow with every step he took but Deaton had warned him that this would happen. The nemeton attracted power, including his spark. Breaking through the foliage, he came across a large stump of a tree and he knew this was it. He also knew that this setting was creepy as fuck, the thing of nightmares. Slowly walking up to the stump, his footsteps vibrated around the forest, highlighted by the silence. Not a single sound could be heard apart from his steps and his breathing. The moonlight shone onto the nemeton, lighting it up like……well like a beacon.

He reached the stump, kneeled in front of it and just looked at it. He could feel the power, the heritage that it had. Putting his hands palm down onto the stump surface, he lent forward and rested his forehead onto the wood, whispering directly to the trunk.

“Please…please help me. I need to save him and I don’t know how. Please……he doesn’t deserve this. He is a good man and the pack, this land needs him. Please, please, please give me help.” Stiles just waited, his tears slowly slipping off his face and into the cracks of the bark.

The hairs on the back of his neck standing up were his first indication that something was happening. Removing his forehead from the tree and looking up, he saw a cloud of black smoke forming on top of the stump. If he squinted his eyes, it could almost look like a person. But the figure held no shape, just a plumb of smoke. A light, whispy voice vibrated throughout the clearing. Well Stiles thought it did. It may have just been in his head.

**We will help you little spark. For this time and this time only. The last decedent of Hale needs to be saved and we will help you.**

“Is there a catch? How do I know that this isn’t a trick?”

A laugh was his answer. **You will understand later why we are doing what we are doing. We are not a thing to be used. We see and hear all. The sacrifice was one made out of love. Not for power. We reward him for his bravery. He brought us back. Trust us and accept our gift to you. He will help. Replace your hands.**

Stiles considered the words, the darkness hovering over the nemeton. He had to trust the voice. He replaced his hands onto the trunk, his nerves tingling. He watched as the black smoke retreated into the trunk of the nemeton and travelled along the cracks towards Stiles. Black thick vines travelled under his skin, up his arms and rising to his chest. He could feel the power enter his body, expanding the spark. He felt something enter his body, not just power this time. It felt like there was somebody else in his body. The power stopped entering, but the vines remained. No not vines, roots. Thick black roots were now etched along his arms like tattoos. God he hoped they weren’t permanent, if Deucalion did not murder him, his dad would.

A chuckle vibrated through his head, laughing at his thoughts. A chuckle that wasn’t his. A male voice spoke to him. **_Don’t worry spark. I am your gift; I am the power which the nemeton has gifted you in your task._ **

Stiles replied in his head. _I don’t understand. What are you meant to do? Oh god, are you possessing me? You are, aren’t you?! I just think you should know my dad is the sheriff so any mischief you plan on causing will just result in you…me…us being locked up. There are better people to possess._

**_I have no desire to get you into trouble. Trust me when I tell you all will be revealed when the time is right. You have some of my power that is true. Power which you can access with my help. But not all of it. I will overtake you if I need to, to access the rest. Look to your spark, it will tell you I can be trusted._ **

It did.

**_Walk back to your pack. Change the pack allegiance._ **

The voice was silent during the walk back. When he met with the pack, he was greeted by a symphony of shocked gasps.

Scott ran up to Stiles, gripped his arms and looked into his eyes “Bro what the hell did you do?! Have you seen yourself?!” Stiles walked to the car and used the in car compact mirror to look at himself. His eyes were a shade darker, not black but just as dark as Scott’s.  The black roots that were on his hands and arms had climbed up onto his neck, stopping at different heights below his jawline. Pulling down his t-shirt, the roots were also on his chest.

Stepping out the car, he turned to look at the pack “I did what I needed to do. This ends tonight.  We need to change the allegiances to Scott. Do it quick.” Stiles overlooked as Isaac, Erica and Boyd all accepted the new alpha. The decision was taken for Peter’s bond to remain with Derek in the hope that the one link would be enough to keep Derek going. The pack turned to Stiles.

**_Make a circle, Close your eyes and imagine Derek. How he looks, how he is and how he makes you feel._ **

Stiles directed the pack and did what was asked. He felt the air move around them and his stomach rolled for a second before everything stopped. When he opened his eyes, they were no longer in the forest. Rather they were stood outside an industrial building. A glance around showed they that they weren’t in Beacon Hills anymore.

“Stiles. What the hell are you?” Scott looked at him with suspicion.

“You need to trust me. Scotty please, just trust me to know that what I am doing is right.”

Scott sighed and nodded his head.

_So…….what exactly can you do?_

**_You will quickly learn spark that I can do anything I want. I am power. I am magic._ **

Stiles nodded his head and muttered to himself “Well that’s good enough for me” and walked up to the building and opened the door.

Show time


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so i posted two chapters earlier today but i managed to get the final chapters done so instead of posting them tomorrow I figured that I would do it now. Thank you so so much for the support, it means so much and all comments are appreciated. Just one point i need to raise - The tag i assigned to this fig is 'angst with a happy ending'. Now (as a pre-emptive strike) There may be some of you that may not be too thrilled with the ending I have for this fic. However for me personally, I love the fics where the characters act and react as a normal human being would. For me, if a person has gone through a traumatic event, it is unrealistic that there will be a immediate happy ever after as soon as the event has ended (which seems to be common place in ALOT of sterek fics I read). Please keep this in mind when you get to the final chapter. For me, it is as happy ending as is appropriate given the subject matter. I toyed with the idea of an epilogue, but so far Im not convinced it would flow well with the story. If the demand is there, I would be more then happy to provide one.
> 
> I hope this made sense, I'm not the right side of sober as i write this xxx <3 xxx

Stiles lead the pack into the warehouse. He could feel the nerves from the rest of the wolves but personally, all he felt was power. Everything tingled and at times it felt like he was walking in a dream. There was no hesitation, just determination. He didn’t know how much of that was his own feelings, or those of his head guest but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Turning a corner, they entered a large steel room. At the other side was the alpha pack. Deucalion stood in front of the rest, looking unconcerned and running his hand through Derek’s hair who was kneeling beside him. Stiles took a moment to assess their missing pack member. The first thing he noticed that the man was naked, and looked like he had been for a long time. He was covered in dirt and blood, wrists shackled together with a longer chain that was attached to a steel collar around his neck.

_Like a dog_

A burst of anger exploded throughout Stiles. The chains shook with the tremors which ran through his body. He noticed the Derek didn’t even seem to notice that his pack had come through the door, his eyes never leaving the floor.

Deucalion sighed and sized up the pack “I thought I told you the consequences of coming after us again. Really we are still in our honeymoon period. Aren’t we mate?” He gripped Derek’s hair hard and pulled his head up. His eyes…Christ he looked like he was dead. His face was pale, large bags under his red rimmed eyes. He didn’t focus on anyone.

Peter spoke up “Oh Duke, never realised rape was considered a honeymoon. If we had known we would have got you help years ago”

Deucalion’s grip tightened “Did you know years ago, reluctant mates were shackled and used by the rest of the pack until they submitted? The weaker mate never got a say as to who they had or the duties they were expected to perform. I always was a fan of the old methods of our kind” he smiled. The anger in Stiles was starting to hurt. Peter actually had to look away, disgust marring his face. And this was Peter. He had issues. So, so many issues. You know that if he judged you, you had really gone wrong in life “The only reason I didn’t kill you was because of my mate. But this……this I cannot allow. You have no right. And once we kill you, the Hale pack will be forgotten. Reduced to night-time stories alphas tell their pups about what happens when you cross me.” Deucalion turned to the rest of his pack, no doubt to signal the start of the attack.

A shout from Scott stopped him “I think his actual mate may have something to say about that. Let’s face facts Duke. You can force the bond all you want. You can break him and rape him. But it will never chance the fact that you…will never be his true mate. He never chose you. He never wanted you. Really it’s sad when you think about it, couldn’t get anyone love you so you have to force it.” Scott mock shook his head, Erica and Isaac smirking behind him.

Deucalion barely glanced in Stiles direction before he focused back on Scott.

“A weak human is nothing. But if I kill him that will remove the problem don’t you think?” The clanging of Derek’s chains increased along with his shaking, but he still didn’t move a muscle.

Deucalion may not have paid attention to Stiles, but the twins did. He could see them studying him, trying to figure out what was different. Stiles just sent a smirk towards them then focused back on Deucalion who was still trying to get under the packs skin. Funny, for someone who considered himself to be such a genius, he was really milking the oldest trick in the book by trying to unsettle the opponent.

“But seriously, if I could give you any advice as an up and coming pack the mate route is the best path to go down. Once he stopped struggling, I found I could focus all my energy on him. Saying that, I think I like it when he fights - makes the victory even sweeter when he submits. He really is beautiful when he cries.” He stated as he ran a finger down Derek’s face.

The air started to change in the warehouse, causing all the wolves to look around. The change even elected movement from Derek, whose eyes started to focus and take stock of the room. Stiles could feel the power thrumming around his body, the black roots throbbing in his skin. The force in his body started to push against him.

**_Time to end this spark. Give me control or I will take it. Trust me when I say this is not about you but my patience has run out._ **

_Will you save him?_

**_Yes_ **

_Will you kill them?_

**_Yes_ **

Stiles breathed in deep and let go, giving control to the other power. He felt like jelly and that his body couldn’t contain the power anymore. He closed his eyes and waited. As sudden as it came on, the pain left. He felt weightless. Opening his eyes, he realised he appeared to have moved away from the pack during the takeover. Looking down at himself, he was shocked to see that his body had become translucent. Eyeing the pack he saw his own – solid - body standing there. His own body, but not his own expression. His own body that he was no longer in. Oh god, he hoped he wasn’t dead.

His eyes were hard, a smirk on his face which he doubted he could ever pull off when he was himself again. A slight nod was the acknowledgement he received before his body focused on the alpha pack. The slight movement was smoother than he ever moved before and stiles took in how his own body seemed to stand taller, with a confidence he lacked in life. Glancing around to his pack, it seemed that nobody else could see him - possible ghost him. Well he assumed so by the lack of looks he was getting. To be honest, Stiles was quite proud of how his own body just screamed BAMF. So he stood back and watched.

Deucalion seemed to notice the change in the air, his senses guiding him to the human “Now….now this is interesting. I don’t recall the human being anything more than a pathetic spark” He tilted his head to the side, trying to figure out what was going on. The rest of the alpha pack started to fidget. Derek’s eyes locked onto _Stiles_.

 _Stiles_ smirked before pacing the room in front of his own pack that was looking at him just the same as the alpha pack did “Now really Duke, I have to say that I thought more of you. This is how far you have lowered yourself? Really?” _Stiles_ held his arms out, gesturing to the warehouse.

Deucalion chuckled “Human you really think you can win this? You cannot beat me, I will kill your mate before you can even think to take one step towards us” Deucalion unsheathed his claws, holding them down to Derek’s neck, points pressed in.

 _Stiles_ shook his shoulders and squared them again “Step away from him before you really piss me off Duke” he said in a firm tone. A tone which Stiles had never heard coming from himself before.

Deucalion removed his glasses and flashed his eyes red, quickly jolting back when he focused on _Stiles_ “You are not the human. Who are you and what is your business here? Pack business is between the Alpha pack and the Hale pack; you have no right to interfere.”

“You kidnap and abuse my son and you think I have no right to interfere? I will destroy you for what you have done to him! You were warned last time what would happen.” Stiles took a double back…..son??....WHAT?!

Deucalion’s smirk quickly left, the shock on Derek’s face mirrored by everybody else in the room “Ah Talia, I should have known. Even in death you just cannot leave well enough alone. I can just kill your human host which will remove you. I’m afraid that in this case, you are just as powerless as the spark. Over reaching on your behalf.”

 _Stiles_ shook his head while laughing “Oh Duke, you always one to overlook the finer details. Don’t get me wrong, my wife was a formidable woman but this really isn’t her area of expertise. Trust me, if she were here, you and your pack would be dead already. I have a bit more patience in life….or death if we are being technical.”

“Dad?” Derek whispered, a look of hope crossing his face before it was replaced with a grimace as Deucalion gripped his claws further into his neck.

Anger flashed across _Stiles’_ face, his jaw locking “Deucalion I will not warn you again. Let go of my boy.”

Deucalion’s smirk came back to his face “Matt, you really should have sent your wife instead. You were only an Alpha mate. You hold no power over me and you hardly inspire fear. You spent your life standing behind her; really you are just as pathetic now as you were then. You. Are. Nothing.”

Everybody in the room jumped when Peter burst into laughter, going so far as to doubling forward and holding his stomach “Ah Duke, when you were stalking my nephew you maybe should have looked at our history. I doubt you would be saying this if you knew. Saying that, we did a fairly good job of keeping it secret” Both Deucalion and Derek looked questioningly at _Stiles_ , eyes widening when _Stiles’_ eyes flashed a bright purple.

“Maja” Deucalion whispered in amazement.

 _Stiles_ put his hands behind his back and began to pace again “You know it was something that always amazed me about your kind. Automatic assumption that I was weak because I was the Alpha mate. I can assure you that you are wrong. The same assumption had been made of the human spark, but I guarantee that again you are wrong. But that is neither here nor there. My wife was a good alpha, but **I** was the power. Still am really. Your history tells you that Maja are the more powerful magic casters, I can assure you I am one of the best. How else do you think I was able to leave the coven?? We work the same as the packs do, power in groups. But they knew, quite rightly, that I could ruin them if they kept me from Talia. Don’t really want to toot my own horn, but I can do anything I want and I wouldn’t break a sweat. So with that in mind, I will give you one last chance…….Let go of my son.” _Stiles_ stopped and just looked at Deucalion.

“I doubt that even you have the power to bring somebody back to life and I will kill him. Aiden, Ethan…why don’t you show Mr Hale what happens when you threaten one of us.” The packs watched as the twins joined and formed the mega-alpha, with Boyd, Erica and Isaac all taking steps away. Stiles was sure he heard Erica murmur ‘If they weren’t evil, they could almost be considered hot’ completed with a disgusted look from Boyd……hmm Stiles was going to have to question them about that. And mock Erica. She deserved it. She tried to knock his brain out with his car. He swore his ADHD had gotten worse after that.

Mega-alpha began to stalk _Stiles_ , a smug look on his face. To his credit, _Stiles_ snorted and rolled his eyes (more evidence of Hale family genes) before he simply raised his hand, palm facing the twins. Frankenstein laughed and began to run towards the man. _Stiles_ simply closed his hand into a fist. The twin-man stopped dead and fell to the floor while clutching his chest. He began to walk towards them, face set like stone with his fist still held out. Mega-alpha began to roar in pain, writhing on the flood.

“ _Neo-ullamh_ ” was spoken before the twins separated, still roaring while clutching their chests where their hearts were. _Stiles_ dropped his arm and unclenched his fist and the twins stopped. He tilted his head to the side before sighing. “You two can go. I have no desire to kill any puppies today. Go” The twin’s shakily rose to their feet before running out the door.

 _Stiles_ shook his head before he turned back to Deucalion “Getting young ones to do your work for you, such a shame. Your parlour tricks do not scare me Duke. Try harder.” Deucalion turned to face Ennis and Kali, signalling them to take on the man. They flanked either side of the alpha before moving towards _Stiles_ , who proceeded to hold up his hand causing them to pause “Now guys is this really fair? You two big alphas against little old me? I think it is only fair to even the odds, don’t you agree?” _Stiles_ smiled before he turned his hand upwards, palm facing the ceiling and whispering “ _Madadh-alluidh_ ” before watching as black smoke rose up from his hand and floated down to the floor. Once there, the smoke began to take shape, moulding before it formed the shape of a large wolf. Its head reached _Stiles’_ waist, blue eyes shining in the alpha pack direction.

 _Stiles_ leaned down till his mouth came down to the wolfs ear “Darling, do you mind dealing with these two while I take care of Duke. He seems to think I’m joking about getting away from our son and I am starting to lose patience.” _Stiles_ turned to look at Duke and Derek as the black wolf gave a loud growl before advancing on the other two. Stiles winced as they both jumped on the black wolf at the same time before realising that it wasn’t like she could be killed again. _Stiles_ just stood still, still watching Deucalion. Talia swiped with her paw, catching Kali on the face before she lunged at Ennis, clamping her jaws on his neck and ripping it out. She had already turned for Kali by the time his body hit the floor. Part of Stiles couldn’t help but feel a small part of joy at how Paige had finally got a little bit of justice. From the look on Isaac and Scott’s face, they felt the same way. A loud cry from the fight echoed before Kali’s body also hit the floor, head at an awkward angle.

Talia simply walked and joined her husband, facing down Deucalion.

“Last time Duke. Let him go.”

Duke growled, grabbing Derek’s hair with his spare hand and pulling his head back violently. _Stiles_ eyes flashed again before he violently threw his arm in front and away from him. Deucalion was thrown away from Derek and into the back wall, causing his claws to rip into his neck as he was thrown. Stiles heart caught in his throat as the blood ran down Derek’s neck but quickly calmed when he realised that, while deep, was not life threatening. _Stiles_ advanced on the figure that had risen from the floor and was now bearing his fangs at him. Talia came to stand in front of _Stiles_ , blocking his path. She looked up at him before giving a yip and retreating to stand behind him.

“Thank you my dear. If there was any justice Duke, I would repay every hurt you put on my son threefold. However, I am a better man then that. Unlike you, I take no pleasure in pain and suffering. May surprise you, but out of the two of us Talia was the one in touch with her humanity more then I was. If I put it into terms you will understand, she was my anchor. That changed when my children were born. Now don’t get me wrong, I love all my children equally but there is something special between a father and his first born son. And you hurt him. You will die for what you have done, not just for what you have done to him, but for every innocent life you are responsible for. It’s what you deserve”

In a last ditch attempt to save his own life, Deucalion lunged at _Stiles_. The man simply extended his hand and caught him mid-leap, wrapped it around his throat and squeezed until a loud snap signalled his death. Derek exhaled in surprise as the mate bond was broken.

 _Stiles_ dropped the body to the side and turned to face translucent Stiles “I just have one more thing to do, then everything is all yours” Stiles tilted his head to the side inquisitively before the breath was taken from his body. He doubled up as a rolling feeling hit his stomach. Glancing down, he saw that his body was no longer see-through. Patting himself down, he groaned in relief that he was solid and not possessed.

“Would you like a moment alone with yourself there buddy?” Scott called from across the room.

“Oh buddy, I might need more than a moment”

Scott, Isaac and Erica snorted in response. Stiles thought Boyd’s eye twitched so he counted that as a laugh. Peter just stood, eyes glued to the scene in front of him. Turning to see what was happening now; Stiles noted that the wolf was still there along with a man that no longer took the shape of Stiles. He had often tried to imagine what Derek’s parents looked like, what features he had taken from which parent. When he had imagined Derek’s dad he thought that he would have just been an older version of Derek. Yeah he was wrong.

The man in front of him was built, larger and taller than Derek but that was no real shock. He had inherited the green eyes but obviously got the dark hair from his mother, as his dad was a blonde. Laughter lines were present on his face but it seemed like they were meant to be there. The man studied Stiles for a while before he smiled and nodded his head at him before turning to Derek, who was still knelt on the floor.

Stiles was ashamed that the thought of ‘Derek’s dad is such a DILF’ and hoped to god that the man hadn’t retained the talent of telepathic conversation. The snort of laughter revealed that yes, yes he had.

The man’s face turned serious as he approached his son, kneeling in front of him and taking his face into his hands. Stiles could see Derek’s mouth moving, but couldn’t see what he was saying. He turned to Scott who had moved closer and raised his eyebrow in questioning.

Scott lent in a muttered “He’s saying he is sorry over and over again”.

Derek raised his hands to grip his dad’s wrists, still muttering apologies.

His father adjusted his grip in response and stopped the rambling in a soft voice “Pup, pup stop and look at me.”

Derek raised his eyes to meet Matt’s, receiving a soft smile from him. “Oh pup, nice to see you are still getting yourself into trouble. You haven’t changed from the days when I had to dig you out of rabbit holes after you shifted and got yourself stuck.” Derek snorted, still gripping Matt’s arms, turning his face and putting his nose to Matt's wrist and sniffing.

“I am so proud of you. You were never meant for this life but we are all so proud of the man you have become.” Matt stopped and took a deep breath. “It’s hard. You have no idea how much I wish we could do something to make it easier for you but trust me, if you fight hard enough the rewards will be worth its weight in gold.” Matt quickly glanced in Stiles direction before turning back. He pulled Derek into him and wrapped his arms tightly around him; Derek copied and gripped Matt back tight “It wasn’t your fault. You need to stop blaming yourself for something which isn’t your fault before you get yourself too deep that you can’t pull yourself out” Talia had walked up to them and was leaning against both men, nose pressed to Derek’s neck, his arm wrapping around her neck. Stiles noticed that everybody else but Peter had left, giving the reunited family some space. Guilt built up that he had intruded on an emotional moment and turned to join them outside. A yip from Talia and a hand on his shoulder stopped him. #

He glanced at Peter “She wants you to stay”

Talia moved and trotted to the boys, giving Stiles a lick on the hand and Peter a nip on the ankle. She turned to walk away and back to Matt, who had somehow gotten hold of a blanket (A magic blanket, thought Stiles. He must check to see if it could fly. No wait that’s a carpet) and put it around Derek.

He lent down and placed a soft kiss on his forehead “You may not believe me right now, but you have an amazing future to look forward too. You and Scott are going to redefine the Hale pack.”

He stroked his face in affection and backed away from his son, turning to face the boys “Stiles, I have left you a little gift. I always regretted having to keep my heritage away from my children, maybe now it can carry on.” He winked at the boy. Stiles will always argue until the end of time that he did not swoon (He did, he totally did. He thinks even Peter swooned. And that’s just wrong).

“Oh and Peter? Laura says she forgives you and everyone else understands but you will be getting a beating when you meet up with the rest of us. Jake says you’re just a bell-end. I swear, his mouth gets him into more trouble then you and Stiles put together.” He gave a cheeky smile as he placed a hand on Talia’s head before they both faded away into black smoke that floated up to the ceiling.

Peter just looked up “Believe it or not, Talia was just a big of a twat as Matt was. We never stood a chance”


	9. Chapter 9

There were times that Stiles thought that the Beacon Hills wolves would never be capable of working together. Even more, he never thought they would ever be a situation serious enough that old disputes could and would be forgiven so everybody could become a proper pack. But it had. He was glad that everybody was finally on the same page, even though he wished he could change the events that had led to the reunion. It had been a unanimous decision that Peter would be responsible for caring for Derek in the aftermath of the Alpha Pack. It had hurt Stiles for a bit before Scott came and talked him through the decision. Derek needed the family connection and everybody thought it was best that, while recovering from what his first ‘mate’ had done to him, that his actual mate should keep a distance for now. There was worry that, if the bond was slightly triggered, it may hinder Derek’s recovery by reminding him of how Deucalion had forced the exact same bond.

Peter had informed them in their newly established weekly meetings that, while he was slowly healing, he was far from in the clear. The nightmares Derek had since the event had continued after he came home, but the frequency of them per night had started to drop. He still didn’t talk to Peter about what had happened. To be honest, according to Peter, there were days where he wouldn’t talk at all but just sit and stare into space. The pack had prepared themselves that Derek would have a difficult time coming to terms with what happened but was adamant that they would be there for him when they were needed. Scott took over the alpha duties for the foreseeable future, and would decide how to work a pack with two alphas when the time came. Peter had put a full on ban on pack members visiting the loft unannounced or staying overnight, stating that while Derek’s nightmares were decreasing, the violent reaction he had during them or the anxiety he had during times when he was awake did not. Stiles was pleased to hear that he was taking steps towards recovery however. The constant shaking he had weeks after had finally stopped, as did the flinching and jumping at any noise in the loft. He was hurt that everyone else had been able to see Derek where as he had to wait, but he bided his time, having faith that what they were doing was right.

5 weeks after they had defeated Deucalion, Stiles was finally allowed to see him. He stood at the loft door, trying to build up the courage to knock at the door. Before he had a change to raise his hand, the door opened up and Peter smiled at him. The relationship between the two men had changed. Oh the sass was still there, but the animosity had decreased. It may have been because Stiles semi-understood Peter and his actions, or that both of them were united in protecting Derek, he wasn’t sure. The man stood to the side and let Stiles in. Stiles looked around the loft, seeing Derek for the first time since the warehouse.

He was currently sat on the couch, looking down at his hands which were clasped together between his legs.

Peter put a hand on Stiles shoulder, gave it a squeeze and leaned into his ear “I’m going to head out and give you two some space” he squeezed again before turning and shutting the door behind him. Stiles exhaled before setting off towards the man, slowly lowering himself down onto the couch but leaving space between them. He just sat and waited. He could see derek trying to work through his thoughts and was determined to let the man lead the conversation.

Derek didn’t look up when he spoke “…..thank you. I….I don’t think I have said it yet so thank you.” He took a deep breath. “I have spent weeks thinking about what I was going to say to you, what would happen when I saw you so I’m just going to go ahead and say everything. I don’t want to hide things anymore. I’m too tired to do it. I don’t think I can do it anymore so I just need…..just need to get everything out. Before can I…..I just want to ask if….does what happened change anything? You know that you are my mate, that hasn’t changed but I can understand if what happened means you don’t want me anymo……”

Stiles interrupted “No, it doesn’t stop me from wanting you. It makes me want to protect you more. But no, my feelings have not changed. So don’t you worry about that.” Derek sighed in relief and if Stiles looked closely, he could have sworn that there may have been a ghost of a smile on his face.

“I’m not going to tell you the details of what happened. I honestly don’t think I will ever tell you or anyone else everything that happened. And I don’t think I will ever…get over what happened. I will never forget and what he did….it will always be with me. But I want to move on. I want to learn how to live with it and not let it rule me. I want to do that with everything in my life. Kate, the fire, Laura….I don’t want to be angry anymore. Seeing dad, it reminded me of how life used to be and I know it will never be the same….but I want to be happy. With you. I want you in my life, I want you to be my…..my pillar and I want to be yours. Dad said that if I fought, it would be worth its weight in gold and I believe him. I think we could be happy, you already make me happy and I want to do the same for you. But for me to do that, I need time. I want to be better so I can be what you deserve, or so I can attempt to be what you deserve. I don’t know how long it will take, could be a few years, could be more. But I need to focus on myself before we think about starting anything. I’m asking a lot, I know that, but could you…..do you think you could wait, for me?” Derek met Stiles eyes, a questioning glint in his eye. Stiles watched as Derek’s hand moved closer to his which has placed in the space between them. His pinkie finger curled around Stiles’ pinkie and squeezed.

Stiles squeezed back and was pleased to see that Derek kept his finger where it was “When you were gone, most nights the thought of us was the only thing that got me through the day. I would have done anything to get you back, and I would do it again. But there were things that concerned me when thinking about us and our future. I understand everything you have said, and I agree. Any help I can give you, it is yours but you do need to work on yourself before you consider anything else. I’m saying this as somebody who cares about you; I want you ok before we even consider moving this forward. For me personally, I feel the same about myself. I know that you and me are forever, but I’m…..we…..aren’t ready for forever yet. The time will come, it will be hard but when it comes and we are both ready, we are going to be amazing.”

“What do you want from the future?”

“College obviously. I want to live my younger years like they should be lived and do something I want to do. I don’t know what that is yet, but I still have time. I want to come home, here, when the time is right and build a life with you. What about you?”

“I’m going to see someone…someone to talk to about everything. I hope that it will be a step forward to being better. The pack….I want it to become a proper pack, a stable pack. When you decide to come back, I would like things to have calmed down, no fighting or inter pack disputed. I want a family and a bond with you and them. I think we can do it. We need to do it.”

“We are going to be ok, everything will work out. Especially now your dad left me some fabby powers to help defend the pack with. Still trying to figure out what exactly I can do, but the mini water tornado that I created in the shower yesterday will be kick ass when I figure out how to do it minus a shower. And minus nudity.” Stiles grinned. He was super excited to see how much damage he could do to the next person that tried to hurt the pack. A weight on his shoulder brought him out of his thoughts, realising that Derek had shifted closer and rested his head on Stiles shoulder, little fingers still entwined. Stiles just turned and breathed his scent in. Everything would be worth it in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again Thank you!!


End file.
